According to the Federal Flag Code Amendment Act of 2007, codified in 4 U.S.C 1, Section 6(a): “It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.” Although not governed by Federal Statute, illumination of other flags, including State flags, organizational flags, advertisement flags, marine flags, etc., is also of interest to groups for various personal, civic, legal, and commercial purposes.
As such, many methods and systems for illuminating a flag have been developed. One common method of illuminating a flag is to position one or more lights at the base of a flagpole, directed to illuminate the flag near the top of the flagpole with directed beams of light. However, if the flagpole is very high, the lighting power required to properly illuminate the flag is substantial and costly. Further, lighting equipment at ground level is subject to vandalism and environmental hazards (e.g., water leakage into ground-recessed lighting). An alternative lighting method is to light the flag from above using lighting affixed to the top of the flagpole. However, tall flagpoles also present a problem with maintenance for such illumination systems—obtaining access to the tops of very high flagpoles can be difficult, risky, and expensive. As such, existing approaches for illuminating flags present nontrivial challenges.